The following e-mail will be sent on your behalf.

 has sent the following story to you from ElectricNews.net.

The story is available from https://electricnews.net/news.html?code=6782546

Europe to implement .eu top-level domain
Tuesday, March 26 2002
by Paula Mythen


The EU has decided at last to implement the .eu top-level domain, allowing
Europeans to begin using Web and e-mail addresses that are identifiably
European.



The decision to approve the new top-level domain was made by the EU's Council of
Telecommunications Ministers on Tuesday. The adoption of the regulation follows
the approval of the European Parliament in February, under the co-decision
procedure. 



"The adoption of the .eu regulation paves the way for EU Internet users, for
the first time, to be able to have pan-European domain names and e-mail
addresses," said European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen. He said the new domain
will help encourage European e-commerce and should also help raise awareness of
the European 'brand' on the Internet.



After months of discussions with the European Internet community, the Member
States and the European Parliament, the adoption of the regulation will allow the
Commission to take the necessary steps to put the infrastructure for .eu in
place. 



These measures include the selection of a private, non-profit organisation to
manage the .eu top-level domain, and the definition of rules to safeguard certain
public policy issues.

 

The European Commission proposed the introduction of '.eu' as a key element in
the strategy to increase the use of the Internet in Europe, one of the main
objectives of the eEurope 2002 Action Plan that was launched at the Lisbon Summit
in March 2000. 



A number of organisations have expressed interest in running the new top-level
domain including Eureg of France. 



In Ireland the IEDR has put together a pan-European consortium in a bid to run
the .eu domain as a not-for-profit organisation. The bid vehicle is currently
named Europoc Ltd. and is incorporated in Ireland. A key component of this bid is
the basis that each member state would be represented. Another bid has been put
forward by a group of Irish organisations including Deloitte & Touche.